RESUMO
Background: Thalassemia is an inherited disease with anemia and hemolysis. Blood transfusion is a routine treatment for thalassemia patients; alloimmunization is one of the complications of blood transfusion, which is very serious for these patients, especially girls and young women. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 446 thalassemia patients were examined. Demographic information of patients was extracted and recorded. The phenotype of ABO, Rh, and Kell antigens (tube method) with antisera from IMMUNDIANOSTICA Company (Germany) and the frequency of alloantibodies were determined. Results: 55.8% of the studied individuals were male, and 44.2% were female. Mean age of the studied patients was 19.94±10.63. The alloantibodies were detected in 7.5% of cell-pack receivers. The most prevalent phenotype of the ABO system was the O blood group (37.4%), and the most abundant antigen of the Rh group was 'e', which was found in 99.8% of the studied population. The most common alloantibody detected was Anti K (38.2%); concerning kell phenotype, (K_k+) and (K+k+) were found in 99.3% and 0.7% of patients, respectively. The frequency of Anti-D, Anti-C, Anti-c, and Anti-E was 23.5%, 14.7%, 2.9%, and 14.7%, respectively. Conclusion: According to the results of this paper, finding the compatible packed cells in terms of Kell and Rh systems antigens in addition to the ABO blood group is recommended to decrease the rate of alloantibodies in thalassemia patients.
RESUMO
Human T cell lymphotropic virus type 1 and 2 (HTLV-1/2) Western blot indeterminate results are a problem for blood banks in endemic areas. To determine the prevalence of HTLV-1/2 infection among indeterminate donors, we analyzed 130 cases from Mashhad, an HTLV-1/2 endemic area in Northeast Iran. The most frequent Western blot bands were GD21 alone (37.2%) followed by rgp46-2 alone (32.1%). We further tested 40 available DNA samples of these cases by PCR for viral sequences, tax, gag, and pol, and found five cases (12.5%) to be positive for two or three HTLV-1 genes. There were no significant age, sex, and blood group differences between PCR-positive and PCR-negative cases. Among PCR-positive individuals, the most prevalent Western blot bands were variable combinations of rgp46-1, GD21, and gp21. The mean of the optical density (OD) of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test was significantly higher in PCR-positive individuals. The frequency of the rgp46-1 band was also significantly higher in PCR-positive cases compared to PCR-negative ones. In conclusion, the majority of HTLV-indeterminate donors lack the HTLV provirus and therefore are not considered infected. However, in some cases with higher ODs in the ELISA test and seroreactivity to env proteins, rgp46-1 and GD21 in particular may be indicative of infection and need further evaluation by molecular methods.
